He does some research and thinks the men he is looking for have done this more than once and that everyone they grabbed is connected to a drug dealer. Then I thought, if this heres a movie, what I do is slip in the back an hunker down tween the front an back seats. A Walk Among The Tombstones'movie finale sees Scudder and Kenny tracking down kidnapper Albert after the gunfight, with the latter having killed wounded partner Ray. But not guns. The moral ambiguities of the novel are transmitted to the big screen version and thats nice to see, but the concessions to the demands of a studio movie ultimately undercut what is a more potent procedural about moral decay, and what it means to take a life. Franks biggest challenge was introducing a Block regular a wayward black teen named TJ (Brian Astro Bradley) who talks himself into Scudders life without making the relationship seem too sentimental. 27 talking about this. They won't be able to see your review if you only submit your rating. Liam Neeson had a bizarre rebirth as an action star thanks to 2008's Taken, where he played a retired special forces operative who cuts a bloody path through Paris to rescue his kidnapped daughter. In 'The Grey', a movie completely steered away from the idea of crime, he was still a pretty knowledgeable badass who could kill if he needed. I enjoyed it, but the ending felt a little flat. Ive been reading Lawrence Blocks New Yorkset Matthew Scudder detective novels for almost three decades and hoping that some filmmaker would finally nail their distinctive, highly influential vibe, in which the PI hero meets sadism with grim stoicism but goes all-out to get the bad guys anyway: If its in his control to do something, he will he must act. Albert inspects the money and discovers some were counterfeit. People are afraid of all the wrong things. Former cop Matt Scudder is now a private eye. Kenny brings Scudder to Yuri Landau's home, where the kidnappers call and arrange to exchange ransom for Lucia at a cemetery. they're forced by Matthew to return her alive. Synopsis: Based on Lawrence Block's bestselling series of mystery novels, A Walk among the Tombstones stars Liam Neeson as Matt Scudder, an ex-NYPD cop who now works as an unlicensed private investigator operating just outside the law. Privacy Policy I don't think they had motives apart from having a fetish and being unhinged enough to carry them out, and in the process getting ransom money from drug traffickers (likely not to call the cops, likely to have a lot of cash). Despite being kind of clich I still enjoyed this film for what it was going for. He also has a weekly dinner with his AA sponsor Jim Faber, who lends an ear and offers advice from time to time. A girl and her drug-dealing boyfriend snort coke. In the book, this particular investigation leads him to seriously think about what Elaine means to him and whether not hes still comfortable with her seeing clients, something he didnt mind before. Based on Lawrence Block's bestselling series of mystery novels, A Walk among the Tombstones stars Liam Neeson as Matt Scudder, an ex-NYPD cop who now works as an unlicensed private investigator operating just outside the law. Starring: Liam Neeson, Dan Stevens, David Harbour. The elements are the same, with the case revolving around Scudders investigation into the kidnapping and dismemberment of a drug traffickers wife. He sees polaroid photos of Reuben and Leila having sex. Kenny knocks Albert unconscious with a bottle. And what happens next changes dramatically from Blocks book. TJ voices a number of personal conspiratorial theories about how society is purposely pushing down black youths like himself, including the fact that people keep offering him sperm-killing soda. Ray actually spots TJ peaking through the window, but it only serves as a fatal distraction just before Albert kills him. It made me HATE the villains though, so they did a great job of that. Your Ticket Confirmation # is located under the header in your email that reads "Your Ticket Reservation Details". In 2014 he played ex-cop Matt Scudder in A Walk Among The Tombstones, and thischaracter comes from a series of neo-noir books from author Lawrence Block. The first big-screen adaptation of these novels was 1986's 8 Million Ways To Die, which cast Jeff Bridges as Scudder. Both of these things are true to the source material, but in the books by Lawrence Block, he has a much more interesting intersection of people in his life. After he delivered the ransom as instructed, the kidnappers directed him to a car containing her dismembered body. Drake, Usher, and Burna Boy to Headline J. Coles Dreamville Festival. what do you guys think the quiet bad guy was about to say before he was interrupted by Liam Neeson at the end of the movie? Dont worry, it wont take long. His latest client is a drug trafficker (Dan Stevens) whose wife was kidnapped and brutally murdered, and as Scudder delves deeper, he finds that the crime's sequence is the modus operandi of the perpetrators. The movie's lean plot, a wealth of action and Neeson's commanding presence made it a surprise hit and it received two sequels. A Walk Among the Tombstones (2014) Plot Showing all 4 items Jump to: Summaries (3) Synopsis (1) Summaries Private investigator Matthew Scudder is hired by a drug kingpin to find out who kidnapped and murdered his wife. And in both the book and movie, their crimes are stomach churning, possibly even moreso in Blocks novel which describes in detail some things you dont see on the screen, particularly when it comes to their previous victims. Overall the book is the superior version and is far more fleshed out, though the movie did a decent job capturing its gritty tone. Next: The Grey Ending Explained: Who Wins Liam Neeson's Wolf Fight. Get The Latest IndieWire Alerts And Newsletters Delivered Directly To Your Inbox. Theyre not working for Pete, though: We see him stoned with a bag of drugs in his hand. Mystery & thriller, On the casting of Neeson, Block said, "Readers often ask who'd be my ideal Matt Scudder, and I usually change the subject. Whats there now is not just different from the novel, it also features a recitation woven through the action of all 12 AA steps, which just seems weird. I kept wondering what that could've been. And he left him barely alive in the basement along with his dead partner in crime. Meanwhile, Scudder grows closer to TJ, encouraging the boy to study and avoid a life of crime. Never have I been so grateful for an absent dialect coach. There is also a large portion of Scudders detective work in the book that involves utilizing a pair of hackers to get into NYNEX (with laptops, external modems, and acoustic couplers if you want to get an idea of how technologically ancient Blocks book is) to uncover phone logs for him, which Frank rightly jettisons, as its a lot of tech talk and not that cinematic. During the shootout in 1991, he was intoxicated. Loogan arrives and admits that he helped kidnap Leila. The green screen at the end was pretty bad, though. I think Kenny did them wrong by paying 400k and not 1mil. Based on Lawrence Block's bestselling series of mystery novels, A Walk among the Tombstones stars Liam Neeson as Matt Scudder, an ex-NYPD cop who now works as an unlicensed private investigator operating just outside the law. So the changes made by Frank are understandable in that context, but they also make Scudder a less complex, more singularly driven man. Maybe hes genetically driven to do what good cops, sober cops, just naturally do: help people. The bartender is killed by two armed men who enter the room. Hes fascinated by people who dont have control. He seemed very human, and didn't even want to handle this case to begin with. Couple that with. Firstly, there is no shootout in the graveyard, a sequence which seems invented purely for the sake of putting action on the screen. At any rate, in Blocks book, TJ is someone Scudder has known for a while already, a homeless kid who can get the kind of information that sometimes the PI cant or doesnt know how to obtain. It's pronounced Paw-rick, not Pad-raig. The site's critical consensus reads, "A Walk Among the Tombstones doesn't entirely transcend its genre clichs, but it does offer Liam Neeson one of his more compelling roles in recent memory, and that's often enough. Cheers! Was on the edge on my seat at least 3/4s of the movie's time length. THE FILM: Despite having a run-of-the-mill story, A WALK AMONG THE TOMBSTONES has some of best character work that Liam Neeson has done in a long time. He cries to Albert that he has never been wounded before. 2014 movie based on the book of the same name by Lawrence Block. But I could have lived with that. I really liked how disconnected the killers were from emotion. Even with Liam Neeson in the lead, its not the most likely project to get a greenlight (and indeed Frank said that without Neeson, this movie would never have happened). And there I would leave it if not for that botched climax. A kidnapped woman got murdered. Their crimes - which include kidnapping and dismembering women - are described in more brutal detail in the book too. And he used to be a drunk. I couldn't be happier about either the star or the writer/director, both of them genuine artists and brilliant professionals. Based on Lawrence Block's bestselling series of mystery novels, A Walk among the Tombstones stars Liam Neeson as Matt Scudder, an ex-NYPD cop who now works as an unlicensed private. Instead, in Blocks book, the finale is much more gruesome. Hmmm. [23] In Variety, Andrew Barker found it a well-made thriller "with a good deal of panache and style".[24]. But its also easy to see why those scenes were removed, as for most of Tombstones, Mick is out of the country in (where else?) He meets TJ, a homeless streetwise youth. They probably were going to kill the last girl as well, but decided to go for the ransom instead. Meanwhile, when it comes to drug trafficker Kenny Kristo (Dan Stevens) and his brother Pete (Boyd Holbrook), the wedge between them that ones successful, while the other is a junkie is the same, but changed for the film in a key way. After a desperate struggle, Scudder shoots Albert in the head without trying to take him prisoner. Even though they live and kill together, they don't care for each other as shown when Albert murders the grievously wounded Ray, then calmly goes upstairs to eat dinner before cleaning up and moving on. One of the key relationships Scudder has is with Elaine Mardell, a professional working girl for over two decades, who he met on the job. But after that, the movie settles into a more adult drama groove. Maybe it even starts to feel good for Matt to stretch those police muscles again. (He also tithes a percentage of his fees to various churches.) In 2002, Harrison Ford was attached to star and D. J. Caruso to direct. Peter is killed, and Scudder wounds Ray. with updates on movies, TV shows, Rotten Tomatoes podcast and more. Block has talked openly about his decades-long attendance, and Scudder is always taking breaks from detective work to pop into meetings. Figured they go back to their house, or wherever they gone go, an when we got there, I just slip out an call you up an tell you where Im at. That's the problem with A Walk Among the Tombstones: Ray and Albert are gay bogeymen who can be hissed and booed without thinking. Privacy Policy and It takes the eccentricity of diverse ethnic and sexual types in the urban jungle and uses them cynically--first in Lawrence Block's 1992 crime thriller novel and now in director Scott Frank's own kind of Hollywood film noir pornography. After a table-turning fight, Scudder overpowers and tasers Albert. It's only to TJ that he confesses that one of his shots killed a young girl. He is about to give up when they grab another girl and Scudder tries make sure she's returned alive. The suit alleges that producers offered no support for the crews anxiety and PTSD symptoms in the aftermath of the shooting. It should have been avoided in A Walk Among the Tombstones, in which a pair of gay serial killers are hunted down by Liam Neeson playing Matthew Scudder, an ex-cop turned private investigator. The expanded two-day event includes Ari Lennox and GloRilla. A Walk Among the Tombstones. But this movie has a bit more to offer. Drama, Matt Follows Loogan. Scudder initially refuses the case but then he accepts. Private investigator Matthew Scudder is hired by a drug kingpin to find out who kidnapped and murdered his wife. 10 Video Games That Need a Live Action Adaptation, 2023's Most Anticipated Sequels, Prequels, and Spin-offs. Theyre grinning kidnappers of women who take the ransom and then return their victims, as agreed only lovingly cut into small pieces. Neesom's Scudder even refers to Ray and Albert as a "Bert and Ernie act." Hal Ashbys 8 Million Ways to Die missed the essentials (it was set in L.A.! A Walk Among The Tombstones: Book Vs Movie Differences. 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